Patuha. What wonderful professional development sessions. I love Lyn's approach. She kept us interested and focussed on things that are important. Blooms/Andersons taxonomy have never made any sense to me before. Equally I saw the thinking hats as just another thing to add to the long lists. I now have some practical ideas that have motivated me to give them a go, along with four new colourful hats to adorn my wall.
Teaching as Inquiry Teacher planning and reflections
My name: Geraldine Irvine
Class Level:Year 3&4
Achievement Target:I am aiming to develop my knowledge of De Bonos Hats, The Thinkers Keys and learn how to use graphic organisers more often and more effectively. I would like the students to become aware of many thinkers tools and how to use them.
Timeframe: 2011
Discovery
Focusing
Introduce a variety of thinking tools: Develop the childrens understanding of how to use some thinking tools Develop childrens questioning skills. Introduce the hats.
Potential – what might be? Prioritise outcomes. Baseline: Find out what students can already do and what more they need to learn. Refer to National Curriculum and other resources
Reflective questions
Post reflections here
Dates
Why am I focusing on this?
Many children choose the easy option and allow other children to do their thinking for them. I would like all children in my class to understand that their thoughts are important and they should all have ways of contributing.
What level are my students presently at? How do I know?
No knowledge of de Bono's hats No knowledge of Thinkers Keys Limited knowledge of graphic organisers( sound knowledge of bubble maps and some are aware of Y charts)
What barriers to learning need to be overcome? What resources will I need?
Lack of focus ICT knowledge (mine and the childrens)
Other observations, reflections or ideas to try
Designing
Teaching
What is my plan for doing this? What strategies will I try? How will I change my practice?
What craft knowledge do I already have? Search your own and colleagues' past practice for strategies that may be more effective. Research to see what has worked for other teachers and contexts. Formulate a plan.
Reflective Questions
Post reflections here
Dates
What new teaching strategies & tools will I use?
Relevant Thinkers keys, HOM's, Graphic organisers, and De Bono's Hats Plan for the use of many thinking tools. In particular use a thinkers keys planning sheet for each inquiry. Use STUFF and The Taranaki Daily News photos and articles as a base for teaching some of the thinking tools.
What are the key steps for implementing my inquiry in the classroom?
Become familiar with the hats Find examples of learning opportunities with which to use the hats Find examples of graphic organisers that will be effective to use with my children Create a thinkers learning display that shows the thinking tools I wish to use and acknowledges how they can be used Provide lots of experiences for each new tool that is being used Reflect on the learning experiences
What methods & ICTs will I use to track & record student change/achievement and how often?
Charts recording thoughts
Other observations, reflections or ideas to try
Delivering
Learning
Put my plan into action. Monitor; collect evidence; write regular dated reflections; interpret data. Plan next steps
Monitor students' progress towards identified outcomes and reflect on what this tells you. Use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in your own practice.
Reflective Questions
Post reflections here
Dates
How am I infusing my ideas into classroom practice?
Adding 1 or 2 specific thinking activities into each weeks programme. Display these activities on the walls where able-this acknowledges the value of the childrens ideas
What am I learning from monitoring student outcomes?
What are the next steps I need to take? (Research, resources, activities)
Other observations, reflections or ideas to try
Evaluating
Summarising
Analyse data and observations and draw conclusions. Prepare and present findings to colleagues.
Reflect on progress, observations: current versus initial data. How did it go? What strategies have made a difference to my students' learning? How do I know?
Reflective Questions
Post reflections here
Dates
What methods will I use to collect ‘end’ data?
What conclusions can I draw from data analysis?
What are my main points?
Specifically how will I share my Inquiry with my colleagues?
Notes
I thought this was an interesting photo that Josh wanted to share with us after his long weekend. We have used open and closed questions before. We will use this as a motivational picture to ask more open and closed questions. The children found it easier to ask a closed question this time round. Many children are not used to asking a question at all. The higher level thinkers in the class are starting to develop the idea of an open question. The children understand that open questions create more questions.
Loved this image so I now use it to for display when we are using our five senses.
Room 5 wrote haiku poems after a visit to the art gallery using the five senses. The senses gave the children a basis to formulate their thoughts.
What resources did I use? Projector and Taranaki Daily News Website
What did the activity involve? We had a look at several photos, an article and a video of the recent tornado to hit Taranaki. I introduced the WHITE & RED hats and what they represent. The children were then required to tell me a fact or make a statement regarding their emotions depending on which hat was placed on their head.
Why was this activity successful? Simple way of developing some understanding of the hats.
How could I use this in other ways? Same concept but use more hats once the children are aware of what the other hats represent.
What wonderful professional development sessions. I love Lyn's approach. She kept us interested and focussed on things that are important. Blooms/Andersons taxonomy have never made any sense to me before. Equally I saw the thinking hats as just another thing to add to the long lists. I now have some practical ideas that have motivated me to give them a go, along with four new colourful hats to adorn my wall.
Teacher planning and reflections
I would like the students to become aware of many thinkers tools and how to use them.
Develop the childrens understanding of how to use some thinking tools
Develop childrens questioning skills.
Introduce the hats.
Baseline: Find out what students can already do and what more they need to learn. Refer to National Curriculum and other resources
No knowledge of Thinkers Keys
Limited knowledge of graphic organisers( sound knowledge of bubble maps and some are aware of Y charts)
ICT knowledge (mine and the childrens)
Research to see what has worked for other teachers and contexts. Formulate a plan.
Plan for the use of many thinking tools. In particular use a thinkers keys planning sheet for each inquiry. Use STUFF and The Taranaki Daily News photos and articles as a base for teaching some of the thinking tools.
Find examples of learning opportunities with which to use the hats
Find examples of graphic organisers that will be effective to use with my children
Create a thinkers learning display that shows the thinking tools I wish to use and acknowledges how they can be used
Provide lots of experiences for each new tool that is being used
Reflect on the learning experiences
Use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in your own practice.
Display these activities on the walls where able-this acknowledges the value of the childrens ideas
I thought this was an interesting photo that Josh wanted to share with us after his long weekend. We have used open and closed questions before. We will use this as a motivational picture to ask more open and closed questions.
The children found it easier to ask a closed question this time round. Many children are not used to asking a question at all. The higher level thinkers in the class are starting to develop the idea of an open question. The children understand that open questions create more questions.
Loved this image so I now use it to for display when we are using our five senses.
Room 5 wrote haiku poems after a visit to the art gallery using the five senses. The senses gave the children a basis to formulate their thoughts.
RESOURCES
Thinking resourcesOral Language/Starter
Thinking
(class)
Projector and Taranaki Daily News Website
We had a look at several photos, an article and a video of the recent tornado to hit Taranaki.
I introduced the WHITE & RED hats and what they represent.
The children were then required to tell me a fact or make a statement regarding their emotions depending on which hat was placed on their head.
Simple way of developing some understanding of the hats.
Same concept but use more hats once the children are aware of what the other hats represent.
Use three hats.